1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an interlabial pad that is worn by female wearers, placed in intimate contact and supported between the labia.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, a sanitary napkin and a tampon are used generally as female sanitary products. Here, there have been great efforts made to prevent the leak of blood from gap caused by poor adhesion near the ostium vaginae as for the sanitary napkin. Moreover, as for the tampon, there have been great efforts made for relieving the foreign feeling and the discomfort when wearing the sanitary products as well as intervaginal wearing trouble due to the nature of those products.
Under such situation, sanitary products of the interlabial pad have attracted attention as a sanitary product positioned between the sanitary napkin and the tampon in recent years. The interlabial pad is used by inserting its portion between the labia and bringing into contact with the inner face of labia, it prevents the blood from leaking because of higher adhesion to the body than that of the sanitary napkin, and the blood from bringing widely into contact with the body by diffusing, so it is sanitary and clean. Moreover, the interlabial pad has characteristics that it excels in a feeling of wearing, is comfortable because of being smaller than the sanitary napkin, and has lower psychological resistance on wearing than that of the tampon which is inserted into the vagina.
Unlike sanitary napkins, which are fixed to the underwear or tampons, which are fixed by insertion into the vagina, the interlabial pad is usually used fixed to the body by inserting between the labia, which may make right and left phase shifts in body motions. Therefore, it is necessary that the interlabial pad can make right and left phase shifts flexibly to follow the wearer's body motions. That is, it is required for the motions of the labia to correspond to the asymmetric body motions with respect to the body's longitudinal plane of symmetry, which extends along the anteroposterior axis, like putting one foot in front of the other alternately in walking. If the interlabial pad cannot follow the body motions and falls from the wearer's interlabial space, the resulting leak of blood is a significant problem.
An example of such device, thin comfortable interlabial absorbent structure (JP-A-2001-507597) is currently available. The interlabial absorbent structure comprises a pair of absorbent body panels that are sufficiently flexible so that the panels can, at least partially, conform to the walls of a wearer's interlabial space. The panels are joined by an isthmus which is positioned farthest into a wearer's interlabial space when the interlabial absorbent structure is worn. However, unlike usual sanitary napkins, the interlabial pad is not fixed to the underwear or fixed by insertion like tampons.
The interlabial absorbent structure is inserted into the interlabial space in such condition that the pad may slip or shift and is not fixed as securely as sanitary napkins or tampons. Therefore, with the wearer's body motion; slips between the interlabial absorbent structure (equivalent to the structure of the interlabial pad whose absorbent pad is joined by the isthmus) and the labia may tend to occur, which may make the wearer feel discomfort.